Chlorine issues often cause cloudy water. Adding a recommended dose of pool shock to your pool can clear it right up. Poor circulation or filtration can contribute to cloudy water. Make sure your pump and filter are working properly.
In most cases, a cloudy pool after shocking is only temporary and should clear up within 24 hours. Keep filtering your pool, add a little clarifier to help, and your pool should be clear in no time. If after 24 hours your pool is not clear, then you may need to look a little deeper for the solution.
It's usually just a temporary reaction as the sanitizer works its magic, and doesn't always indicate a problem. But if the cloudy water persists long after you've shocked the pool, you're likely having an issue with water balance, circulation, or filtration.
High doses of chlorine, like pool shock, can cause temporary cloudiness as it kills contaminants. High levels of pH, alkalinity, and calcium hardness are more likely to cause cloudy water.
For the most part, yes. It can be unattractive and it should be addressed, but it is mostly safe to swim in cloudy water. The only exception would be if the pool is cloudy because there are too many chemicals in it. This pool water would be unsafe to swim in and should be avoided.
How to fix cloudy pool water caused by poor filtration. When a pool clarifier doesn't work and the water chemistry is balanced, then the cause of cloudy pool water is likely mechanical. The range of pump and filtration problems starts with simple human error and extends to worn-out or broken parts.
Excessive levels of pool chemicals can cause your water to become cloudy. High pH, high alkalinity, high chlorine or other sanitisers, and high calcium hardness are all common culprits.
It's pretty tough to over-shock your pool; shocking your pool two days in a row with the proper dosage for your pool volume shouldn't be a problem – and in fact, is sometimes even needed to rid your pool of algae and other contaminants.
The simple answer is No. Baking soda cannot be used to clear up a cloudy pool because it is a base. Bases raise PH levels, which causes the water to turn cloudy. Some people suggest using baking soda as a quick fix to high alkalinity levels, but it's not reliable as a pool chemical.
Here is why: Sunlight is white, which is made up of all the colours of the spectrum. The molecules in pool water absorb light from the red end of the spectrum when sunlight falls on the water. By removing the red, the light which ends up being reflected has a slightly blue hue which can vary in richness by water depth.
You cannot overshock a swimming pool or add too much. Adding too much shock or overshocking your pool will kill off algae. The negative of adding too much shock is it will upset the chemical balance of your pool.
Baking soda, also known as sodium bicarbonate is naturally alkaline, with a pH of 8. When you add baking soda to your pool water, you will raise both the pH and the alkalinity, improving stability and clarity.
It's not a good idea to use pool shock at the same time as clarifier. Some clarifiers are polymer based and the shock can act to break up the polymer causing the clarifier to be ineffective. It's best to shock your pool before and wait a day or two before adding clarifier.